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So before we start, this is a first test and I did not use the proper tools (crappy scissors, cut very approximately), it was just to have a quick idea of what I can do with some aluminium flashing and a pair of RHD bugeye HID projectors.

Edit: see post 33 for my second (much better) attempt.

In the process I also kind of neglected to double check the direction of the cutoff so it is still RHD but you get the idea. This one would will end up in the trash anyway.

Here is the OEM shield, no color whatsoever at the cutoff, I think this is because the oem shield is very thick and probably designed to eliminate any blue tint:

And here is the custom shield, it's crooked and all but remember this is a very quick test:

And a closer view of oem vs custom:

I still have to work on the curve of the shield, if I get it correct I think there will be some blue all along the line, and a more focused cutoff on the sides. It is already better than stock for the cutoff on the sides (pictures not included) but can be improved.

If it was'nt of the crappy reflective material on the bowls these projectors would be actually pretty nice... For this reason I do not foresee using these on my cars, but just for playing around. I will keep this updated with my future tests and attempts.

Be prepared for the flood of "can you make a set for me" requests! Looks good so far!

Hahaha yes but at least this will help them DIY rather easily because I dont plan on doing more sets than mine. Once I end up with a satisfactory shape I might print the layout in a pdf so people can print it on a 1:1 scale and transfer it to an aluminium piece.

It was 150$ for the ebay shields iirc, so if you feel confident cutting a piece of flashing accurately enough it sounds like a better option because for around that price you'll get a good projector (tsx or rx330) and do a retrofit for a much better result. But if you DIY then it makes more sense to mod the sti projectors because it costs almost nothing.

I did some more tweaking, I flipped the shield (just bent it the other way) and also played with the curvature to get a sharp cutoff all along the line. You really need to follow a precise curve to get a clean cutoff, more so on the extreme sides. When I'll be done I will scan the curvature and shape of the shield for you to duplicate.

Also, looking at the before and after pics (oem RHD to this) it looks like the OEM shields are placed too high in the beam, not cutting the hotspot in the center, and as a result the brighter area is not aligned with the cutoff, it is slightly too low. My custom shield is more centered vertically and that helps aligning the hotter part of the beam along the cutoff instead of too low.

^
Google docs, and then make your file accessible to public?
Alternatively, if you scan it with a sheet of paper marked with 1" grids on the background, even a hardcopy from a jpeg would still be useful.

Nice mod. 2 questions:
(1) Why not use the original, trim along the lower edge, and add a small strip of sheet metal for the cutoff? That way, the distance between the lens and reflector bowl won't change.
(2) There is probably a change in the beam width intensity profile when moving the cutoff down (as you indicated); the reflector bowl has a somewhat ellipsoid profile left to right. So, even though the distance lighting is probably improved, the side beam may look different; I'm thinking in the context of the different regions you drew out as projected on the road in another thread.

Nice mod. 2 questions:
(1) Why not use the original, trim along the lower edge, and add a small strip of sheet metal for the cutoff? That way, the distance between the lens and reflector bowl won't change.
(2) There is probably a change in the beam width intensity profile when moving the cutoff down (as you indicated); the reflector bowl has a somewhat ellipsoid profile left to right. So, even though the distance lighting is probably improved, the side beam may look different; I'm thinking in the context of the different regions you drew out as projected on the road in another thread.

The sides also seem to benefit from having more intense light at the cutoff, the sides are slightly brighter modded like this. The way the hotspot was on the oem mask is far too low IMHO.

I did not want to retain the oem shield as it would have been more conplicated to actually shape the sheet metal like I want. It is fairly easy to cut the sheetmetal to shape and roll it, tweak the angles by inserting a screwdriver in until you get the best output. Just pay attention not touching the return wire with the screwdriver

Aboutthe pdf, I already have a perfectly scale autocad drawing that prints 1:1 scale on paper, the pdf does too, so if possible to have a format that will not have a chance or shrinking or unscaling it it'd be nice. I'll try a few jpg or other image formats and see what I can come up with. I also added a 100mm x 100mm cross next to the shield template to give a scale reference. I guess that would be enough for someone to achieve a scale printout on any printer (worst case scenario, by trial and error, resize, print, measure, and so on)

Shortandhangry: that's what I figured ou too. The oem shield is thick as a brick, eliminating any possibility of color and also some intensity.

The beam seem to dim as it gets closer to the cutoff, I think because the thickness blocks the light coming from certain angles (it makes kind of a blind spot in light coming from the bowl and passing by the shield if you know what I mean).

Tried google docs, anybody want to try it out and see if they can access the PDF ?

Keep in mind this is a first draft. "Release notes" if I may say are that the 2 holes are not really aligned at all with the projector screws, they are way larger than the hole so you can wiggle the shield until you find the best position. In other words you have to manually position the shield in between the lense holder and bowl before you tighten the screws completely. The trick is to just tighten enough to be able to move the shield with a small screwdriver through the bottom hole, but not too loose so the shield does not move around by itself (AVOID TOUCHING THE RETURN WIRE ON THE BULB).

Odd that you seem to get improved distance lighting (in the sense that the center hotspot is brighter) while at the same time not losing width... there must be a reason the oem projector is set up this way. I'm not saying your assessment is incorrect, but it just seems odd to find a free mod.

Odd that you seem to get improved distance lighting (in the sense that the center hotspot is brighter) while at the same time not losing width... there must be a reason the oem projector is set up this way. I'm not saying your assessment is incorrect, but it just seems odd to find a free mod.

Well I did not try it on the road so I am just assuming things. The width of the beam ia tecjnically the same, I see 2 reasons why i would appear brighter: 1) the very thick cutoff shield eats some of the light close to the cutoff (you can see this too in the center hotspot on the right of the step, looks like a void near the cutoff) or 2) it is more intense because I moved the shield up a bit to cut the hotspot more aligned with the cutoff.

Maybe it is setup that way to make a uniform light color (eliminate the blue) and smoothen the transition from dark to light for a less aggressive flicker. If one would like to play safe, you could leave the height of the shield more like factory.

The oem pattern is almost bowing because the intensity on the side is lower than the hotspot. I think as long as you do not lower the shield too much as to reduce the thickness of the sides it should not have adverse effects.

I think understand what you are saying. On the sides, there are some advantages to have intense light at the cutoff, and also some to have it thicker on the sides. So you dont want to raise shield too much and end up with too thin band on the sides, even if the light is more intense at cutoff.

But in any case you always seem tk end up with more intense light along cutoff with the thin shield, no matter how you end up aligning your shield vertically. So I guess that part really is a free mod

The print to scale does not work. When I print the PDF and measure the 100mm cross I get 94mm. Maybe the drawing is too wide and it gets shrunk to fit in a page. Will tweak it some more and let you know when I update the file.

Ok the problem was not the PDF file, it was in Acrobat reade, in the print options before printing, in Page Scaling, you must select NONE instead of fit to printable area or some other stretching options. I have a hair more than 100mm on the cross that way.

I might replace the file though with a more compact one to avoid you having issues printing it to scale in case it somehow does not fit with your margins settins and all...